B     4     03?    3^:3 

EFENSE 


lOR-GENERAL  LEONARD  WOOD,  U.  S.  A. 


EIGHTH  EDITION 


oUN   18  1936 


THE  SWISS  SYSTEM 


REV.  HENRY  FERGUSON,  LL.D. 


SCHOOLS  AND  MILITARY 
TRAINING 

BY 

A.  T.  McCOOK 


National  Defense 

A  SPEECH 

BY 

MAJOR-GENERAL  LEONARD  WOOD,  U.  S.  A. 


I  JUN  18  toe 

EIGHTH  EDITION 


THE  SWISS  SYSTEM 


REV.  HENRY  FERGUSON,  U.D. 

THE  SCHOOLS  AND  MILITARY 
TRAINING 

A.  T.  McCOOK 

National  Defense 

A  SPEECH 

BY 

MAJOR-GENERAL  LEONARD  WOOD,  U.  S.  A. 


EIGHTH  EDITION 


THE  SWISS  SYSTEM 

BY 

REV.  HENRY  FERGUSON,  LL.D. 


THE  SCHOOLS  AND  MILITARY 
TRAINING 

BY 

A.  T.  McCOOK 


y*t^h^f^ 


GENERAL  WOOD'S  SPEECH 

AT  ST.   PAUL'S  SCHOOL 

CONCORD,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE 

General  Wood  said  :  I  thank  you,  young  gentlemen, 
for  the  very  kind  reception  which  you  have  given  me. 
It  is  always  an  inspiration  to  meet  a  body  of  enthusi- 
astic youngsters  who  have  the  world  ahead  of  them, 
and  if  one  can  do  anything  to  make  more  clear  the 
responsibilities  and  obligations  which  confront  them 
and  suggest  a  way  to  meet  and  overcome  them,  it 
is  a  duty  which  should  be  performed.  What  I  wish 
to  say  to  you  tonight  may  sound  a  bit  harsh  and 
inject  an  element  of  seriousness  into  this  occasion 
which  will  tend  a  little  to  take  from  it  the  spirit  of 
joyousness  which  marks  the  end  of  a  year's  school 
work  well  done.  I  am  going  to  say  something  to 
you  about  your  obligations  to  the  country  as  sol- 
diers, for  you  come  of  the  stock  and  represent  a  class 
whose  responsibility  to  the  country  in  time  of  war 
has  always  been  generous.  I  noticed  today  your  fine 
soldiers'  monument,  erected  in  honor  of  the  graduates 
of  the  school  who  gave  their  lives  in  the  nation's 
service  in  the  Spanish  War.  Among  them  are  the 
names   of   men   of   my   regiment.     The   responses   of 

3 

W 


these  men  is  indicative  of  the  response  which  is 
going  to  be  made  by  men  of  their  kind  in  the  future. 
You  are  going  to  respond  whether  you  are  trained  or 
not.  What  I  want  to  bring  home  to  you  is  that  to 
be  a  really  good  citizen  of  a  republic  which  is  depend- 
ent upon  its  citizen  army  you  must  be  not  only  will- 
ing but  prepared,  and  I  want  to  say  to  the  parents 
and  friends  assembled  here  tonight  that  they  must 
remember  that  these  youngsters  are  going  to  respond 
to  the  call  of  the  country  whether  they  wish  it  or  not ; 
that  it  is  a  duty  which  the  great  majority  of  right- 
minded  boys  will  not  attempt  to  shirk,  and  the  ques- 
tion I  want  to  ask  them  is — Are  they  going  to  send 
these  boys  to  us  prepared  to  be  efficient  soldiers  or 
are  they  going  to  send  them  to  us  untrained  and  un- 
prepared to  make  such  sacrifice  as  they  may  have  to 
make  effective?  This  subject  was  brought  home  to 
me  very  forcibly  the  other  day  by  a  letter  received 
from  a  friend  in  the  West,  who  had  just  lost  his  boy 
in  the  battle  at  Ypres.     He  said : 

You  remember  the  last  time  we  met  that  I  told 
you  of  my  17-year-old  boy  at  school  in  England. 
Well,  he  left  school  and  went  into  the  Home  De- 
fence force,  but  this  was  not  enough,  and  he  trans- 
ferred and  joined  a  regiment  at  the  front — one 
of  the  new  regiments — and  was  killed  at  Ypres. 
It  was  sad  enough  and  hard  enough  to  lose  the 
boy,  but  I  shall  never  be  able  to  get  rid  of 
the  feeling  that  neither  he  nor  his  mates  had  a 
sporting  chance;  they  were  unprepared  and  un- 
trained. 


Before  going  into  the  details  of  this  subject,  I  want 
to  impress  one  fact  upon  you,  and  that  is  that  our 
country  has  never  yet  in  its  entire  history  met  single- 
handed  a  first-class  country  prepared  for  war.  The 
shrinkage  in  enlistments  and  steady  diminution  in 
the  strength  of  our  military  establishment  during  our 
struggle  for  independence  points  out  clearly  and  con- 
clusively to  any  fair-minded  person  the  invaluable 
assistance  of  France  in  the  Revolution.  In  the  War 
of  1812-1814  we  were,  from  a  military  standpoint,  a 
minor  issue,  for  Great  Britain  was  engaged  in  that 
tremendous  struggle  with  Napoleon — a  struggle  which 
required  the  great  bulk  of  her  forces  on  sea  and  land 
and  prohibited  her  from  concentrating  her  efforts 
upon  the  war  in  America. 

The  question  is — Shall  we  drift  on,  regardless  of 
the  teachings  of  history,  making  no  adequate  prepa- 
ration for  the  possibilities  of  the  hour,  or  shall  we 
take  heed  from  the  experiences  of  the  past  not  only 
of  our  own  country,  but  of  all  lands  since  history  was 
written,  which  is,  that  preparedness  is  the  best  in- 
surance against  war,  or  shall  we  accept  as  our  guide 
for  the  future  the  theory  of  those  deluded  people  who 
tell  us  that  wars  are  over  and  that  this  is  the  last 
great  war,  forgetful  of  the  fact  that  these  same  peo- 
ple, or  people  of  the  same  type  of  intelligence,  an- 
nounced that  the  Russo-Japanese  War  was  the  last 
war,  then  that  the  Balkan  War  was  the  last  wart 
The  answer  is  no.  We  must  judge  the  future  by  the 
past  and  make  wise  preparation  to  protect  and  safe- 
5 


guard  those  rights  which  our  forefathers  handed 
down  to  us.  It  seems  to  me  that  no  right-minded 
person  can  hesitate  in  deciding  which  is  the  path  of 
wisdom  and  which  is  the  path  of  folly.  We  do  not 
want  war,  but  we  must  not  forget  that  there  is  many 
a  peace  which  is  infinitely  worse  than  war,  such  as  a 
peace  which  results  from  failure  to  do  our  clear  duty, 
to  fight  for  what  we  believe  is  right,  or  to  support  our 
honest  convictions.  We  in  this  country  do  not  want 
a  large  standing  army,  nor  do  we  desire  anything 
which  savors  of  militarism.  We  do  need,  and  those 
who  are  intelligent  enough  to  appreciate  the  situa- 
tion want,  an  adequate  army.  By  this  I  mean  an 
army  suflficient  for  the  peace  needs  of  the  nation, 
which  means  the  garrisoning  of  the  Philippines,  Pan- 
ama, Hawaii,  Alaska  and  Porto  Rico,  together  with 
such  force  in  the  United  States  as  will  be  sufficient 
for  an  expeditionary  force,  such  as  we  sent  to  Cuba, 
or  to  deal  with  internal  disorders  which  neither  the 
police  nor  the  militia  may  be  adequate  to  control. 
We  must  have  an  adequate  navy,  sufficient  to  per- 
form a  navy's  function — on  one  ocean  in  any  case, 
and,  if  we  are  wise,  on  both  oceans.  Both  the  army 
and  navy  must  be  supported  by  adequate  reserves 
— the  navy  with  a  reserve  strong  enough  to  com- 
pletely man  the  second  line  ships  ordinarily  out  of 
commission  and  the  many  supply  ships  and  auxiliary 
ships  which  must  be  put  into  commission  in  time  of 
war,  and  in  addition  men  enough  to  make  good  the 
losses  ©f  the  first  six  months  of  war.  We  must  also 
6 


have  a  good  militia  with  reserves,  under  a  large  meas- 
ure of  federal  control — a  militia  whose  response  to 
the  calls  of  the  nation  will  be  prompt  and  certain — 
one  which  will  come  well  trained  and  well  equipped. 
This  can  only  be  accomplished  through  the  federal 
government  fixing  the  standards  and  exercising  the 
necessary  power  of  inspection.  Unless  this  can  be 
done  the  militia  cannot  be  considered  a  dependable 
force.  Back  of  it  is  that  great  force  of  citizen  sol- 
diers, ordinarily  known  as  volunteers — a  force  which 
must  be  trained  in  time  of  peace,  in  order  to  be 
promptly  available  in  time  of  war.  In  any  case  the 
officers  of  this  force  must  be  provided  in  time  of  peace 
and  their  provision  must  include  thorough,  system- 
atic training.  We  cannot  depend  upon  volunteers  in 
future  wars,  as  we  have  in  past  wars,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  the  onrush  of  a  modern  war  is  so  sudden 
and  all  our  possible  antagonists,  concerning  whom  we 
need  have  any  serious  apprehension,  are  so  thor- 
oughly prepared  that  there  will  be  no  time  to  train 
volunteers,  and  certainly  no  time  to  train  officers. 
Washington  and  the  officers  of  his  time  were  con- 
vinced of  the  folly  of  depending  upon  volunteers. 
They  come  with  a  rush  from  the  best  of  the  popula- 
tion during  the  early  stages  of  war,  but  their  enthu- 
siasm soon  passes  away  and  the  bounty  and  the  draft 
follow.  In  the  Revolution  our  greatest  force  was,  in 
1776,  about  89,000  men.  It  dwindled  year  by  year 
so  that  in  1781  we  had  in  the  field  only  a  little  over 
29,000  men,  and  this  notwithstanding  large  bounties 
7 


oi  money  and  land  and  the  strongest  efforts  on  the 
part  of  individuals  and  Colonial  assemblies.  The 
same  thing  took  place  in  the  War  of  1812-1814.  Men 
came  for  a  short  time,  but  new  men  had  to  take  their 
places;  527,000  different  men  were  in  the  field  during 
this  war.  Of  this  number  something  over  33,000 
were  officers. 

The  frequent  change  of  personnel  resulted  neces- 
sarily in  demoralization  and  inefficiency.  It  was 
again  attempted  through  the  bounty  to  produce  ef- 
fects which  should  have  been  produced  by  patriotism. 
In  the  Revolution,  which  was  really  the  birth  strug- 
gle of  the  nation,  the  falling  off  in  volunteering  is 
worthy  of  the  most  serious  consideration,  as  is  the 
chaotic  condition  which  resulted  from  the  working  of 
the  same  system  in  the  War  of  1812-1814,  This  war 
on  land  was  highly  discreditable  to  us.  With  the 
exception  of  a  drawn  battle  at  Lundy's  Lane  and  an 
unimportant  victory  on  the  Thames,  our  land  opera- 
tions were  not  only  disastrous,  but  generally  highly 
discreditable.  We  abandoned  Washingfton  to  a  force 
of  only  about  60  per  cent,  of  that  of  the  defenders, 
with  a  loss  on  our  side  of  eight  killed  and  eleven 
wounded.  The  greatest  force  of  regulars  which  Eng- 
land had  in  this  country  at  any  time  during  the  war 
was  a  little  over  16,800.  There  was,  of  course,  a 
considerable  number  of  Indians  and  militia,  but  this 
combined  force  was  only  a  small  fraction  of  our  nu- 
merically great  force.  At  the  battle  of  New  Orleans 
(fought  after  the  war)  we  won  a  highly  creditable 
8 


victory.  Our  troops  were  well  handled  and  the  enemy 
attempted  the  impossible.  Moreover,  the  bulk  of  the 
men  who  composed  Jackson's  army  were  expert  with 
the  rifle. 

On  the  water  we  had  many  highly  creditable  in- 
dividual ship  actions  and  some  creditable  fleet 
actions,  but  generally  speaking,  on  the  high  seas  our 
commerce  was  destroyed  and  our  gallant  but  small 
navy  bottled  up. 

In  the  Civil  War  we  of  necessity  continued  the 
volunteer  system,  no  general  policy  looking  to  mili- 
tary efficiency  having  been  inaugurated,  and  the  two 
armies,  each  undisciplined  and  untrained,  learned  the 
game  of  war  together,  and  after  several  years  were 
moulded  into  excellent  fighting  machines.  In  this 
war,  as  in  preceding  wars,  the  volunteer  system  failed 
absolutely,  and  both  the  North  and  the  South  had 
to  go  to  the  draft  and  every  attendant  evil  of  the 
bounty  system,  with  its  accompanying  desertions, 
bounty  jumping,  etc.,  which  tended  to  demoralize 
the  public  conscience  in  all  which  pertained  to  the 
sacredness  of  the  military  obligation.  The  number  of 
desertions  was  enormous.  Charles  Francis  Adams 
places  it  as  high  as  523,000  out  of  a  total  enlistment 
in  the  northern  armies  of  something  over  2,700,000, 
or  nearly  one  in  five. 

In  the  Mexican  War  we  met  an  unprepared  and 

rather  ineffective  enemy  and  the  theater  of  war  was 

so  remote  that  our  men  were  in  hand  long  enough  to 

get   them    into    reasonably    good    shape,    at    least   to 

9 


meet  an  enemy  of  the  type  which  confronted  us. 
We  had,  moreover,  an  unusually  able  body  of  officers, 
many  of  whom  distinguished  themselves  greatly  in 
the  Civil  War,  but  again,  as  in  all  our  wars,  had  we 
met  a  prepared  and  efficient  enemy  the  system  would 
have  been  our  undoing. 

You  boys  must  never  for  a  moment  accept  the  very 
common  idea,  brought  into  being  largely  by  the 
politicians  and  the  Fourth  of  July  orator,  that  we  as 
a  nation  have  peculiar  military  ability  and  that  with- 
out thorough  training  we  can  meet  equally  good  men 
who  have  been  well  trained. 

The  cowardly  abandonment  of  our  Capitol  almost 
without  loss  on  our  part  shows  how  unsafe  it  is  to 
trust  untrained  troops  in  combat  with  well-organized, 
well-disciplined  troops.  You  must  remember,  also, 
that  this  particular  action  occurred  almost  within  a 
generation  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  that  the 
men  who  made  up  the  force  defending  Washington 
were  drawn  from  sections  which  produced  many  of 
the  best  troops  of  the  Revolution.  Old  Light  Horse 
Harry  Lee  summed  the  situation  as  follows : 

That  government  is  a  murderer  of  its  citizens  which 
sends  them  to  the  field  uninformed  and  untaught, 
where  they  are  to  meet  men  of  the  same  age  and 
strength,  mechanized  by  education  and  discipline  for 
battle. 

Those  words  are  just  as  true  and  just  as  applicable 
today  as  they  were  when  they  were  uttered.  We  are 
sxo  longer  an  Anglo-Saxon  race,  but  a  very  mixed  one. 

10 


Blood-Strains  from  all  parts  of  Europe  run  through 
our  people,  and  their  influence  is  felt  in  the  descend- 
ants of  the  new-comers.  Everything  indicates  the 
necessity  today,  more  than  ever  before,  of  thorough 
preparation.  Now,  while  we  do  not  desire  a  large 
standing  army,  we  must  have  the  kind  of  army  and 
an  army  of  the  strength  referred  to  above.  We  must 
have  also  a  great  body  of  35,000  or  40,000  reserve 
officers  trained  and  ready  to  serve  as  officers  of  vol- 
unteers. We  must  have  a  sound  military  system — 
one  which  tends  to  produce  in  the  heart  of  every  boy 
the  consciousness  of  the  fact  that  he  is  one  of  the 
defenders  of  the  country  and  impels  him  to  make  the 
necessary  preparation. 

The  military  system  of  Switzerland  or  Australia 
appeal  to  me  very  strongly  as  models  which  we  could 
follow  to  our  advantage  in  all  which  pertains  to  mili- 
tary training.  Switzerland  has  had  her  system  in 
operation  long  enough  to  make  its  application  gen- 
eral, and  as  a  result,  while  a  peaceful,  orderly  country, 
she  stands  always  ready  to  defend  her  rights  and  to 
guard  her  territory.  She  is  absolutely  free  from  all 
indication  of  militarism,  as  ordinarily  understood, 
and  yet  every  man  in  Switzerland  who  is  physically 
fit  has  received  a  sufficient  amount  of  training  to 
make  him  an  effective  and  efficient  soldier;  that  this 
has  served  to  benefit  and  uplift  the  people  is  con- 
clusively shown  by  her  low  criminal  rate,  which  is 
only  a  fraction  of  ours,  and  by  the  admitted  conser- 
vatism of  her  people,  their  law-abiding  habits,  their 
II 


patriotism  and  their  respect  for  the  rights  of  others. 
Contrast  her  position  of  today  with  that  of  another 
small  European  country,  which,  unlike  her,  had  not 
made  due  preparation.  In  both  Switzerland  and 
Australia  a  large  amount  of  instruction  is  given 
through  public  schools  or  during  the  school  period  of 
the  youth — so  much,  indeed,  that  only  two  or  three 
months  of  intensive  training  in  camp  are  necessary 
to  complete  the  training  of  the  soldier.  The  officers 
take  a  longer  and  more  intensive  course,  but  the  sys- 
tem in  both  countries  is  worked  out  so  that  there  is 
practically  no  interference  with  the  industrial  or  edu- 
cational careers  of  those  under  training. 

As  I  have  said  before,  there  has  been  little  or  no 
interest  in  this  country  in  this  great  question  of  mili- 
tary training.  There  has  been  a  general  haphazard 
policy  and  a  blind  dependence  upon  volunteers;  in 
other  words,  a  dependence  upon  someone  else  doing 
one's  work.  It  is  an  illogical  system.  There  is  no 
reason  why  one  group  of  the  population  should 
assume  that  another  group  is  going  to  voluntarily  per- 
form their  military  duties.  The  obligation  to  mili- 
tary service  is  universal.  It  is  a  tax  upon  which  all 
others  depend,  and  a  nation  which  fails  to  recognize 
this  prepares  its  own  downfall.  This  general  training 
can  aU  be  effected  as  has  been  done  in  Switzerland 
and  Australia,  without  a  trace  of  militarism,  without 
any  departure  from  ideals,  and  with  a  great  resulting 
improvement  in  the  morals,  physique  and  character 
of    our    youth.     In    Switzerland    and    Australia    the 

12 


training  of  young  boys  is  principally  of  a  calisthenic 
character.  Later  they  pass  to  rifle  shooting  and 
military  formations.  The  final  finish  is  put  upon 
them  in  training  at  the  camps  which  immediately 
precede  their  entry  into  the  first  line  of  the  country's 
defense.  You  must  not  think  that  war  is  one  of  the 
great  destroyers  of  human  life.  It  does  take  many 
lives,  but  it  is  among  the  lesser  causes  of  loss  of  life. 
Our  industrial  casualties,  not  deaths  necessarily,  but 
casualties  of  all  kinds,  amount  to  something  over 
450,000  a  year.  Of  these,  about  78,000  or  79,000 
result  fatally — a  loss  rather  exceeding  the  average 
loss  of  life  of  two  years  of  the  Civil  War.  Most  of 
these  accidents  are  preventable.  The  public  interest 
in  life-saving  is  not  suflSciently  keen  to  insist  on  ade- 
quate legislation  to  this  end.  The  losses  in  the  war 
are  more  dramatic,  more  startling,  but  the  lives  lost 
in  every  day  work  in  the  struggle  for  existence  exceed 
them  vastly  in  number  and  run  on  without  ceasing, 
both  during  peace  and  war. 

The  following  is  a  little  illustration  of  the  case 
of  our  own  country,  namely,  in  ten  peaceful  Fourths 
of  July  (the  last  July  4,  1910),  approximately  1,800 
persons  were  killed  and  something  over  35,000 
wounded  in  celebrating  the  success  of  a  war  which 
ended  nearly  130  years  before.  The  number  killed 
equals  the  number  killed  in  battle  or  who  died  of 
wounds  in  the  Spanish-American  War,  the  Philip- 
pines rebellion  and  the  Indian  wars  of  a  number  of 
years  preceding.     The  wounded  of  these  ten  peaceful 

13 


days  aggregate  seven  and  a  half  times  the  wounded 
of  all  these  wars.  I  tell  you  these  things  not  to  prove 
that  war  is  any  less  dreadful,  or  that  you  should 
strive  less  to  avoid  it,  but  simply  to  present  to  you 
the  truth  with  reference  to  the  causes  which  bring 
about  the  loss  of  life.  Do  not  give  up  your  ideals. 
Strive  for  universal  peace,  but  while  striving  do  not 
forget  the  conditions  under  which  you  are  living,  and, 
however  much  you  may  hope  to  obtain  a  condition  of 
world  peace,  remember  that  there  is  no  evidence  of 
it  today  and  that  if  we  want  to  preserve  the  institu- 
tions which  have  been  handed  down  to  us  we  must 
be  ready  to  defend  them  or,  as  Lord  Roberts  said : 

Strive  to  stir  up,  to  foster  and  develop  the  manly 
and  more  patriotic  spirit  in  the  nation — a  spirit  which 
will  induce  our  youth  to  realize  that  they  must  be 
not  only  ready  but  prepared  to  guard  the  heritage 
handed  down  to  them. 

Abandon  the  theory  of  chance  and  adopt  that  of 
probability  in  making  wise  provisions  for  peace 
through  preparedness  for  war. 

You  hear  a  great  deal  about  the  destructive  work 
of  the  soldier.  I  am  going  to  say  just  a  word  with 
reference  to  his  constructive  and  life-saving  work, 
which  has  really  been  his  principal  function  since  the 
close  of  the  Spanish- American  War,  and  indeed  it  was 
one  of  his  principal  activities  during  that  war.  Start- 
ing with  Porto  Rico,  we  find  that,  principally  due  to 
the  efforts  of  a  medical  officer  of  the  army,  Dr.  Bailey 
14 


K.  Ashford,  tropical  anemia,  or  hook-worm  disease, 
as  it  is  ordinarily  called,  has  been  about  eliminated. 
Not  only  was  this  discovery  of  value  in  Porto  Rico, 
but  it  was  made  use  of  throughout  our  own  southern 
states,  with  a  result  of  revitalizing  and  re-energizing 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  afflicted  with  this 
disease.  The  annual  death-rate  in  Porto  Rico  alone 
was  reduced  by  a  number  exceeding  the  total  number 
of  men  killed  during  the  Spanish-American  War,  and 
a  recent  inquiry  made  of  all  planters  in  the  island 
with  reference  to  their  workers  indicates  that,  in  their 
opinion,  the  average  increase  in  efficiency  is  60  per 
cent. — a  truly  startling  figure,  and  one  which  illus- 
trates very  well  the  far-reaching  and  wonderful  ef- 
fects of  sanitary  measures  and  preventative  medicine. 
Passing  on  to  Cuba,  here  we  have  the  wonderful  dis- 
covery of  Major  Walter  Reed  and  his  associates, 
Carroll  and  Lezear,  which  resulted  in  discovering  the 
method  of  transmission  of  yellow  fever  and  the  means 
of  controlling  it,  and  the  eventual  elimination  of  that 
dread  disease  not  only  from  Cuba,  but  from  all  the 
American  troops,  with  the  resulting  saving  in  life, 
which  runs  into  many  thousands  each  year,  and  a 
saving  in  money  so  vast  that  it  is  difficult  to  estimate 
it;  for  the  days  of  yellow  fever,  with  the  consequent 
quarantine,  which  tied  up  the  movement  of  men  and 
materials  throughout  the  entire  South,  limited  the 
movements  of  ships  coming  from  yellow  fever  coun- 
tries, and  the  costly  disinfection,  resulted  in  an  expen- 
diture running  into  hundreds  of  millions.      Indeed,  it 


is  safe  to  say  that  the  saving  from  yellow  fever  alone 
every  year  in  life  and  money  has  exceeded  the  cost 
in  each  of  the  Spanish-American  War  and  the  Phil- 
ippines rebellion. 

In  the  Philippines,  splendid  sanitary  work  has  been 
done  by  the  army  and  later  by  the  civil  government. 
Beriberi,  one  of  the  most  dreaded  of  the  eastern  dis- 
eases, has  been  done  away  with.  Malaria  has  been 
brought  under  control.  Infant  mortality  has  been 
halved.  Most  of  this  latter  work  has  been  done  un- 
der the  civil  government,  but  the  foundations  were 
laid  by  the  medical  officers  of  the  army  who  at  first 
had  charge  of  the  work.  In  Panama  we  see  the 
direct  effect  of  this  work  in  the  completion  of  the 
Panama  Canal.  This  great  and  splendid  piece  of 
•engineering,  remarkable  as  it  is  from  an  engineering 
•standpoint,  and  conducted  with  wonderful  efficiency 
hy  General  Goethals  and  his  assistants,  could  not 
liave  been  built  had  it  not  been  for  the  application 
by  General  Gorgas  of  the  results  of  the  sanitary  dis- 
coveries made  in  Cuba  which  made  it  possible  to 
carry  on  this  great  work  under  conditions  of  health 
which  equalled  those  anywhere  in  the  United  States. 
It  may  be  truly  said  without  taking  one  atom  of 
credit  from  the  engineers  that  this  great  work  was 
built  on  a  sanitary  foundation.  Had  we  not  got  rid 
of  yellow  fever  and  learned  to  control  malaria,  the 
death-rate  would  have  been  so  hea\y  that  the  work 
could  only  have  resulted  in  our  hands  as  it  did  in 
the  hands  of  the  French,  for  nothing  demoralizes 
i6 


working  forces  more  effectively  than  great  epidemics. 
They  are  worse  than  battles  in  some  ways. 

The  mobilization  on  the  Mexican  frontier  has  not 
been  without  its  great  and  lasting  benefits.  It  ena- 
bled us,  because  of  the  prevalence  of  typhoid  in  the 
Mexican  villages  and  along  the  Rio  Grande,  to  insist 
upon  general  typhoid  inoculation  of  officers  and  men, 
and  the  result  has  been  the  removal  of  typhoid  from 
the  army.  Last  year  there  were  100,000  men  scat- 
tered from  Tinsin  to  Panama,  through  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  and  the  Philippines,  from  Alaska  to  Porto 
Rico,  as  well  as  all  over  the  United  States,  and  there 
was  not  a  single  death  among  them  from  typhoid. 
When  one  remembers  thousands  of  cases  in  the  camps 
of  the  Spanish-American  War,  the  importance  of  this 
discovery  is  appreciated.  The  general  application 
was  made  possible  only  by  the  mobilization  of  troops 
and  in  the  struggle  to  protect  them.  So  it  was  with 
the  discovery  concerning  yellow  fever  and  the  elabo- 
ration of  the  methods  employed  in  controlling  mala- 
ria. The  results  of  these  discoveries  are  now  all  of 
general  application,  not  only  to  the  population  in 
our  own  country,  but  to  the  population  of  all  coun- 
tries in  and  bordering  on  the  American  tropics,  as  well 
as  in  the  insular  possessions.  Not  only  were  great 
sanitary  results  secured  through  the  military  arms  of 
the  government,  but  it  should  be  remembered  also 
that  it,  the  military  arm,  established  and  maintained 
a  civil  government  in  Porto  Rico,  Cuba  and  the 
Philippines,  and  conducted  these  governments  with 
17 


great  success — in  Cuba  up  to  the  point  of  the  transfer 
to  the  Cuban  people  of  a  completely  organized  re- 
public, and  in  Porto  Rico  until  the  transfer  to  the 
American  civil  government;  likewise  in  the  Philip- 
pines, the  military  authorities  were  in  full  charge 
during  the  most  trying  period  and  turned  over  to 
the  civil  commission  which  followed  them  a  well- 
organized  government  and  a  well-filled  treasury. 

I  tell  you  all  this  in  order  that  you  may  understand 
more  fully  what  the  real  work  of  the  army  has  been 
— that  its  life  saving  has  counterbalanced  scores  of 
times  its  work  as  a  destructive  force,  if  one  may  apply 
the  term  "destructive  forces"  to  a  force  used  to  ter- 
minate intolerable  conditions  and  to  establish  humane, 
just  and  equitable  governments  among  dependent 
people. 


i8 


An  article  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ferguson,  on  the  system 
in  use  in  the  Swiss  Federation,  showing  its  conven- 
ience and  economy,  if  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the 
United  States. 


19 


THE    SWISS    SYSTEM 

BY   DR.    HENRY   FERGUSON 

The  United  States  may  fairly  be  said  to  be  a  nation 
whose  one  desire  and  one  interest  is  peace.  Yet  six 
times  in  the  course  of  its  short  history  of  126  years 
has  the  nation  been  exposed  to  war  by  the  action  of 
other  powers.  France,  Tripoli,  the  Barbary  States, 
England,  Mexico  and  Spain  have  all  at  one  time  or 
another  been  our  opponents. 

It  is  impossible  for  a  sovereign  state  to  be  free 
from  the  dangers  of  war.  Its  very  independence 
makes  it  liable  to  have  to  contend  for  the  protection 
of  its  national  rights  and  privileges.  The  only  na- 
tion sure  of  not  being  obliged  at  some  time  to  fight 
is  the  one  which  has  already  surrendered  to  a  more 
powerful  state  its  right  of  self-defense,  or,  what  is 
about  the  same,  is  so  enamored  of  peace  and  the 
prosperity  that  is  supposed  to  be  inseparable  from  it, 
that  it  never  dares  to  resent,  for  itself  or  its  people, 
an  injury  or  an  insult. 

In  spite  of  our  pride  in  the  exploits  of  our  soldiers, 
the  military  history  of  our  country  is,  in  fact,  not  a 
brilliant  one.  Our  navy,  small  but  well  trained,  has, 
it  is  true,  always  acquitted  itself  with  courage  and 
distinction,  but  the  story  of  our  volunteers  is  not  so 

21 


creditable.  In  1812,  1846  and  in  1898  our  volunteers 
were  mustered  into  camp  wholly  untrained  and  igno- 
rant of  the  first  principles  of  military  discipline, 
though  every  great  American  who  has  ever  spoken 
on  the  subject  had  warned  us  of  the  result.  More- 
over, they  died  like  flies  in  the  camps  where  they 
were  mustered  before  the  fighting,  as  well  as  in  those 
in  which  they  were  crowded  after  the  fighting  was 
over.    . 

Our  men  will  fight;  there  is  no  fear  of  that;  but 
how  many  can  be  brought  to  the  fighting  line,  is  a 
more  serious  question.  Many  suggestions  have  been 
made  by  many  persons,  military  and  civilian,  in  re- 
gard to  the  method  which  the  United  States,  and  the 
individual  states  of  which  it  is  formed,  should  adopt 
to  protect  themselves  from  the  danger  of  the  occur- 
rence of  war  when  they  were  least  prepared  for  it. 
It  does  not  take  long  for  one  country  to  get  into  war 
with  another — an  ultimatum — and,  even  before  the 
answer  is  received,  a  blow  is  struck,  if  it  seems  to  the 
enemy  there  is  any  advantage  to  be  gained  by  doing 
so.  Then  it  would  be  too  late  to  prepare  to  train  our 
boys  to  fight.  Now  is  the  time,  when  there  is  no 
enemy  threatening  us,  when  the  work  can  be  done 
;almly,  quietly  and  without  excitement. 

The  adoption  of  an  universal  military  service  like 
that  practiced  in  France  and  Germany  is  not  only 
impracticable,  but  also  so  opposed  to  all  our  feelings 
and  traditions,  that  it  is  useless  to  propose  it;  though 
it  is  based  upon  the  correct  principle  of  the  liability 

22 


of  every  man  to  fight  for  his  country.  But  there  are 
other  systems  besides  those  of  the  great  military  na- 
tions of  Europe  that  may  well  attract  our  attention 
as  being  practical  and  not  severe.  But  if  a  hostile 
fleet  attacked  New  York,  no  system  of  practical  self- 
defense  would  then  seem  severe. 

So  many  allusions  are  made  to  the  excellent  system 
by  which  the  Swiss  confederation,  by  a  carefully  con- 
trived militia,  supplies  the  want  of  a  standing  army, 
which  is  prohibited  by  its  federal  constitution,  that 
it  is  well  to  understand  explicitly  what  that  system 
is.  By  it  the  Swiss  confederation,  with  a  population 
of  4,000,000,  is  able  to  call  to  the  colors,  at  two 
days'  notice,  over  200,000  trained  soldiers,  and  in  a 
week's  time  can  put  into  the  field  300,000  more.  To 
compare  this  with  our  country,  it  is  as  if  we  in  the 
United  States,  with  our  population  of  100,000,000, 
were  able  to  rely  upon  the  services  of  5,000,000  at 
once,  and  to  be  able  to  add  in  a  week  to  that  number 
7,500,000,  which  would  make  us  safe  from  any  sudden 
surprise.  And  this  is  done  without  imposing  any 
serious  burden  upon  any  citizen,  or  creating  a 
dangerous  military  class  distinct  from  the  civil  pop- 
ulation. 

The  system  is  as  simple  as  it  is  admirable,  com- 
bining the  earliest  training  with  the  rudiments  of 
elementary  compulsory  education,  and  keeping  the 
adult  citizen  in  readiness  for  service  without  serious 
burden. 

Every  school  boy  is  taught  that  his  country  has  a 
23 


claim  upon  his  services  in  her  defense,  and  is  care- 
fully trained  by  athletic  exercises,  approved  of  and 
directed  by  the  government,  that  fit  him  to  use  his 
growing  strength  to  the  greatest  advantage. 

These  exercises  are  not  of  the  nature  of  a  military 
drill,  but  furnish  a  progressive  training,  beginning 
when  the  boys  are  quite  young  and  continuing 
through  their  school  life.  They  not  only  lead  to  a 
symmetrical  and  careful  development  of  the  indi- 
viduals, but  also  accustom  the  children  to  the  com- 
mon action,  under  skillful  direction,  fitting  them  to 
fall  in  readily  with  the  later  technical  military  instruc- 
tion when  the  time  shall  come  for  it.  The  great  value 
of  this  training  of  the  children  by  the  government 
is  that  it  co-ordinates  the  school  with  the  subsequent 
camps  of  instruction,  so  that  all  public  energies  are 
directed  to  a  common  advantage. 

When  the  boys  become  young  men,  rifle  shooting 
is  most  carefully  encouraged,  and  clubs,  societies  and 
associations  formed  to  practice  this  most  useful  ac- 
complishment. Prizes  are  offered  by  the  federal 
government,  by  the  various  cantons  (corresponding 
to  our  state  governments),  by  the  municipalities  and 
the  communes,  and  the  young  Swiss  is  taught,  as 
our  own  ancestors  were  in  Colonial  days,  to  shoot 
straight,  to  speak  the  truth,  and  to  keep  his  body 
under  subjection. 

Once  in  every  year  the  men  of  20  years  of  age  are 
called  upon  by  their  several  cantons  to  meet  in  a 
central  place  within  each  canton,  and  take  a  series  of 

24 


tests  with  the  object  of  ascertaining  whether  they 
are  physically  and  mentally  able  to  serve  their 
country.  The  tests  are  comparatively  easy,  but  of 
sufficient  difficulty  to  exclude  dunces  and  weaklings 
whom  the  confederation  has  no  use  for.  The  physi- 
cal examination  consists  of  a  test  of  strength  requir- 
ing the  candidate  to  lift  four  times  in  succession  in 
each  hand  a  weight  of  about  thirty-seven  pounds. 
He  has  to  run  about  eighty  yards  in  fourteen  seconds 
or  under — besides  passing  a  fairly  rigid  physical  ex- 
amination as  to  the  condition  of  his  vital  organs. 
The  mental  examination  consists  of  reading,  writing 
and  arithmetic  and  the  rudiments  of  Swiss  history, 
besides  a  short  composition  on  some  simple  subject, 
to  show  the  candidate's  power  of  expression.  Those 
who  pass  are  accepted  for  military  training;  those 
who  fail  to  meet  these  easy  requirements  are  dis- 
missed, but  must  bear  hereafter  a  heavier  share  in 
the  national  taxation  than  their  more  intelligent  and 
athletic  brothers  who  are  able  to  give  their  personal 
service. 

The  recruits  are  then  sent  to  training  camps  where 
they  receive  from  sixty  to  ninety  days  instruction, 
according  to  the  branch  of  the  service  they  are 
thought  qualified  to  enter.  After  this,  for  eleven 
years,  from  the  age  of  21  to  32,  the  recruit  is  called 
out  for  eleven  days  in  the  year  to  refresh  his  train- 
ing, and  then  he  is  transferred  from  the  Elite  to  the 
Landwehr  or  First  Reserve.  He  serves  in  this  for 
twelve  years  longer,  being  called  into  the  field  only 
25 


in  alternate  years,  and  then  for  eleven  days.  Then 
he  passes  into  the  Landsturm,  or  Second  Reserve, 
until  at  48  his  period  of  service  is  completed.  The 
government  keeps  in  existence  the  head  of  the  ord- 
nance department,  the  general  staff,  and  the  corps  of 
instructors  needed  for  the  organization. 

There  are  strong  fortifications  upon  the  St.  Gott- 
hard  Pass,  and  at  Martigny  and  St.  Maurice  in  the 
Valais.  Each  soldier  is  given  his  uniform  and  his 
rifle,  for  the  care  of  which  he  is  responsible.  Cavalry 
soldiers  have  also  their  horses.  With  these  in  hand, 
mobilization  is  immediate.  The  system  has  not  in- 
deed been  tested  by  war,  but  on  the  occasions  when 
mobilization  has  been  necessary  to  preserve  the 
country's  neutrality,  as  in  1870,  and  at  the  present 
day,  it  has  worked  well;  and  the  tiny  country  is 
loyally  and  vigorously  defended  by  her  own  citizen 
soldiers.  Officers  are  made  through  merit,  and  are 
given  special  courses,  and  retained  in  "active"  service 
for  longer  periods.  The  law  permits  no  soldier  to 
decline  promotion  with  its  added  responsibilities  in 
either  the  commissioned  or  non-commissioned  grades. 

Every  soldier  is  insured  against  sickness,  accident 
or  death,  by  the  government,  while  under  instruction, 
or  while  engaged  in  any  military  duty. 

The  great  merit  of  the  system  lies  in  the  very  gen- 
eral extent  of  the  training,  with  the  minimum  of 
Interruption  to  the  domestic  life  and  individual  affairs 
of  the  men  who  are  trained,  and,  above  all,  in  the 
ideal,  which  is  constantly  held  up  before  every  normal 
26 


Swiss  boy,  that  the  defense  of  his  country  is  a  matter 
of  his  own  immediate  concern,  that  his  country  needs 
and  claims,  not  only  his  love  and  his  devotion  and  his 
pride,  but  also  his  personal  bodily  service. 

This  is  an  ideal  that  many  of  us  believe  is  none  too 
high  to  be  kept  carefully  and  constantly  before  the 
eyes  of  the  no  less  loyal,  no  less  conscientious  boys 
of  the  American  federation,  in  this  good  old  common- 
wealth. 


27 


APPENDIX 


THE  SCHOOLS  AND   MILITARY  TRAINING 

BY  ANSON   T.   McCOOK 

Less  than  two  years  ago,  any  suggestion  of  universal 
military  training  in  the  United  States  would  have  been 
regarded  by  most  of  us  as  evidence  of  mild  insanity. 
Wars,  we  were  told,  had  ceased  save  among  barbarians. 
That  any  nation  might  be  wantonly  attacked,  in  this 
enlightened  age,  appeared  unthinkable. 

Then,  out  of  a  clear  sky,  came  the  outbreak  of  war 
in  Europe  and  the  invasion  of  Belgium,  and  all  our  pre- 
conceived notions  of  the  permanency  of  international 
good  fellowship  and  the  safety  of  any  peace-loving  people 
fell  to  the  ground  with  a  crash.  And  now,  while  clinging 
as  tenaciously  as  ever  to  the  ideal  of  peace,  our  eyes  are 
opened.  Reluctantly  we  are  forced  to  admit  that,  even 
though  it  takes  two  to  make  a  quarrel,  it  takes  only  one 
to  commit  a  murder  or  a  robbery,  and  that  international 
murderers  and  robbers  do  exist.  We  have  learned  that 
nations,  like  athletes,  apparently  exhausted  today,  to- 
morrow may  be  more  vigorous  than  ever;  that  the  ocean, 
far  from  being  a  barrier  to  attack,  is  the  broadest  and 
easiest  of  high-roads;  that  modern  warfare  is  a  com- 
plicated science,  calling  for  the  highest  degree  of  technical 
knowledge  and  requiring  enormous  bodies  of  thoroughly 
trained  men.  And  we  are  beginning  to  realize  that 
America,  if  invaded  by  any  first-class  power,  could  offer 
less  effective  resistance  than  did  Belgium  to  the  hosts 
of  the  German  Empire. 

Here,  then,  is  our  problem:  Hating  war  as  the  em- 
bodiment of  almost  all  that  is  evil  here  below,  yet  seeing 
the  possibility  of  its  falling  suddenly  upon  us  as  upon 
others,  how  shall  we  prepare  for  it — that  is  to  say,  against 
it?  First,  of  course,  by  greater  national  self-restraint, 
by  unselfishness,  by  observance  of  our  obligations  to 
other  nations  and  regard  for  their  susceptibilities.     But 


what  if  we  are  attacked,  or  it  becomes  our  moral  duty 
to  fight? 

The  position  of  those  who  advocate  total  disarmament 
for  the  United  States  both  by  land  and  by  sea  and,  as  a 
necessary  corollary,  non-resistance,  is  logical  and  is 
founded  upon  the  highest  motives;  it  commands  respect 
if  not  allegiance.  But  there  can  be  no  respect  either  for 
the  morals  or  for  the  common  sense  of  those  who  would 
have  us  retain  some  armament  without  making  it  suf- 
ficient. When  threatened  by  lawless  individuals,  remain 
unarmed  if  your  conscience  forbids  resistance;  but,  what- 
ever you  do,  don't  draw  an  empty  revolver  or  shoot  in 
the  air! 

Our  present  condition  of  utter  defenselessness  requires 
no  comment.  It  is  a  fact  which  cannot  be  disputed. 
When  we  consider  that  there  are  five  nations,  each  with 
enough  ships  to  land  from  90,000  to  385,000  veterans 
upon  our  shores  in  a  period  of  between  two  and  three 
weeks  after  a  declaration  of  war,  the  necessity  of  a  stronger 
fleet  as  our  first  line  of  defense,  and  of  a  standing  army 
of  more  than  our  present  30,000  mobile  regular  troops 
available  to  meet  the  first  shock  of  invasion,  becomes 
self-evident. 

What  is  the  solution?  Scarcely  the  militia,  which  in 
several  states  exists  largely  on  paper,  in  too  many  others 
is  closely  allied  with  politics  and,  with  several  notable 
exceptions,  is  not  really  efficient.  Certainly  we  should 
not  discourage  the  patriotic  efforts  of  those  men  who 
are  exerting  their  strength  through  the  only  channel 
at  present  open  to  them ;  on  the  contrary  we  should  give 
them  our  support  in  all  their  endeavors  which  are  patri- 
otic rather  than  selfish.  But  the  fact  remains  that  a 
system  involving  a  number  of  separate  armies  with  wide- 
ly varying  standards  of  work  and  discipline  cannot  be 
relied  upon,  and  it  has  failed  us  in  the  past.  Military  or- 
ganizations rise  no  higher  than  their  leaders.  Incapable 
officers  have  entailed  untold  losses  in  men  and  money 
in  all  our  wars.     Mixed  control  spells  mediocrity. 

32 


Assuredly  we  cannot  solve  the  problem  with  untrained 
volunteers.  The  utter  unreliability  of  such  a  body  called 
hastily  together  to  face  a  sudden  and  overwhelming 
emergency  cannot  be  questioned.  Washington,  refer- 
ring to  those  of  his  day,  declared  that  if  he  were  required 
under  oath  to  state  whether  they  had  been  a  greater  help 
or  hindrance  he  should  be  obliged  to  say  the  latter.  Un- 
trained men  are  a  menace  to  themselves  and,  if  placed 
alongside  trained  troops,  are  equally  a  menace  to  them 
and  to  the  cause  for  which  they  are  fighting.  "That 
government  is  a  murderer  of  its  citizens  which  sends  them 
into  the  field  unprepared  and  untrained,"  said  Light 
Horse  Harry  Lee,  and  he  knew  whereof  he  spoke. 

A  huge  permanent  military  establishment,  similar  in 
character  to  those  existing  on  the  continent  of  Europe  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  present  war,  would  undoubtedly 
make  for  military  strength  but  is  a  remedy  which  most 
of  us  would  reject  as  worse  than  the  disease.  As  we 
prefer  that  our  government  remain  a  republic,  notwith- 
standing its  tendency  toward  inefficiency,  so  we  prefer 
that  the  safety  of  this  nation  rest  with  its  citizens,  in 
spite  of  the  hazard  involved.  It  is  better  for  the  people 
and  for  their  government  that  they  carry  in  their  own 
hands  the  security  of  their  institutions. 

In  the  last  analysis  the  citizens  of  any  nation  must 
constitute  its  defense  under  whatever  form  of  govern- 
ment. If  war  comes  they  must  fight  or  the  nation  perish. 
Why,  then,  should  they  not  be  taught  the  use  of  arms 
for  their  own  protection  and  that  of  their  country?  Why 
should  they  not  be  trained,  ever>^  one  of  them — and  in 
advance  of  trouble?  Even  if  an  enormous  standing 
army  of  the  European  type  is  said  to  be  repugnant  to  free 
institutions,  a  menace  to  liberty  and  an  economic  burden, 
a  citizen  soldiery  trained  to  the  use  of  arms  involves  no 
undue  sacrifice  of  time  or  money  and  carries  in  itself 
the  guarantees  of  freedom  and  of  safety.  In  the  words 
of  George  Washington,  "A  free  people  ought  not  only 
to  be  armed  but  disciplined,  to  which  end  a  uniform  and 

33 


well-digested  plan  is  requisite."  In  universal  military 
knowledge,  as  well  as  in  a  realization  of  the  universal  duty 
of  service  in  case  of  war,  must  be  our  safety  and  our 
strength;  and  any  training,  to  be  effective,  should  be 
begun  at  an  early  age. 

The  little  Republic  of  Switzerland,  although  her  system 
would  not  fit  us  without  some  modification,  furnishes  a 
splendid  precedent.  Germany  might  have  struck  France 
through  Switzerland  rather  than  through  Belgium,  but 
something  more  formidable  than  the  Alps  deterred  her — a 
nation  trained  in  arms  from  its  youth  up.  And  who  can 
say  that  this  discipline  for  their  boys  and  young  men  has 
made  the  Swiss  aggressive  or  fond  of  war,  or  has  given 
them  a  taste  for  bloodshed,  or  robbed  them  of  their  love 
of  home  and  of  liberty? 

"Military  education"  is  largely  a  matter  of  definition. 
Advocacy  of  appropriate  training  in  the  schools  does  not 
mean  giving  youngsters  of  eight  or  ten  Napoleon's  Cam- 
paigns to  read  any  more  than  it  would  involve  beginning 
their  mathematics  with  a  table  of  logarithms.  Like  edu- 
cation along  other  lines,  it  should  be  progressive.  It  is 
one  of  the  greatest  possible  mistakes  to  feed  into  the  minds 
of  the  young  a  mass  of  advanced  ideas  which  cannot  be 
assimilated.  Both  the  Swiss  and  the  Australian  systems 
begin  with  simple  things  and  develop  gradually.  Such 
also  was  the  method  of  procedure  which  succeeded  so 
admirably  with  those  American  children  of  maturer 
years  who  met  last  summer  at  Plattsburg.  Perhaps  90 
per  cent,  of  the  men  who  attended  the  so-called  Business 
Men's  Camps  were  wholly  ignorant  of  the  subject  they 
had  come  to  study,  and  the  teachers,  regular  Army  offi- 
cers, were  wise  enough  to  begin  slowly.  In  consequence, 
Plattsburg  was  a  very  excellent  and  successful  primary 
school.  The  men  graduated,  that  is  to  say,  reasonably 
good  "high  privates  in  the  rear  rank."  Now  it  is  one 
thing,  of  course,  to  teach  children  and  another  their 
elders,  but  certain  problems  are  common  to  both.  While, 
therefore,  Plattsburg  was  devoted  to  the  education  of 

34 


:^he  "older  young,"  its  work  can  profitably  be  studied  in 
working  out  a  system  for  the  "younger  young" —  cer- 
tainly for  those  of  high  school  and  college  age. 

The  training  of  boys  of  from  ten  to  fourteen  might 
properly  be  restricted  almost  wholly  to  calisthenics  and 
other  activities  looking  to  physical  betterment.  In  this, 
out-of-door  work  and  simple  exercises  should  be  pre- 
ferred to  gymnasium  apparatus  and  gymnastic  "stunts." 
The  aim  should  be  first  of  all  disciplinary.  As  to  the 
physical  aspects,  the  idea  is  not  to  develop  a  few  special 
muscles  or  to  train  the  subject  for  exhibition  purposes, 
but  rather  to  bring  about  a  generally  robust  physique — 
sound  heart  and  lungs,  reasonably  muscular  arms  and 
legs,  agility,  co-ordination,  erectness  of  carriage,  knowl- 
edge of  how  to  walk.  Walking  is  an  art  in  which  we 
are  not  universally  proficient.  Short,  frequent  periods 
of  exercise  are  better  in  every  way  than  occasional  pro- 
tracted sessions.  The  bracing  effect  of  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes  of  simple  work  in  the  open  air  every  day  is  in- 
calculable. Regular  exercise  is  as  essential  as  regular 
food.  Long  periods  and  difficult  work  are  fatiguing, 
and  fatigue  should  be  avoided.  We  all  know  that  the 
younger  the  child,  the  shorter  the  time  during  which  his 
attention  can  be  held.  And,  since  the  disciplinary  or 
moral  effect  is  more  important  than  the  physical,  what- 
ever is  done  should  be  done  "at  attention"  and  whole- 
heartedly, or  not  at  all.  As  to  fresh  air,  while  it  is  said 
to  be  an  American  fashion  to  regard  nothing  as  worth 
while  which  is  not  expensive,  by  all  means  let  us  have  the 
school  yard  or  wide  open  windows.  If  these  physical 
drills  (why  not  more  than  one?)  take  place  in  the  middle 
of  the  school  session,  the  children  will  come  back  to  their 
books  refreshed  physically  and  mentally. 

Just  what  exercises  should  be  performed  is  a  matter 
of  detail.  The  important  thing  is  how  they  are  per- 
formed. Slouchiness,  inattention,  talking,  carelessness, 
should  not  be  brooked  for  one  instant.  This  much  strict 
discipline  for  a  few  minutes  a  day  will  hurt  no  one,  even 

35 


according  to  the  most  advanced  theories  of  moral  suasion. 
To  illustrate:  some  600  free  and  independent  American 
citizens,  ranging  from  18  to  60  years  of  age,  "did  exer- 
cises" at  the  September  Plattsburg  Camp  under  the 
leadership  of  Captain  Koehler,  for  many  years  Instructor 
of  Gymnastics  at  West  Point.  We  did  not  always  under- 
take them  cheerfully.  Usually  we  were  turned  over  to 
him  on  returning  to  camp,  hot  and  tired  and  dirty,  more 
eager  for  rest  and  a  wash  than  anything  else  in  the  world. 
But,  because  it  was  a  part  of  the  system,  we  marched 
down  and  took  our  places  before  him,  even  if  rebellion 
lurked  secretly  in  our  hearts.  At  the  end  of  fifteen 
minutes  he  actually  had  us  good-humored,  rested  and 
ready  for  more.  Now  he  was  a  genius,  perhaps;  but 
what  he  could  get  out  of  us  under  such  trying  conditions 
no  doubt  an  ordinary  human  beingcould  accomplish  under 
easier  circumstances.  For  one  thing.  Captain  Koehler 
never  held  his  pupils  over  twenty  minutes;  he  gave  them 
frequent  rests;  he  never  kept  them  at  one  exercise  until 
they  were  tired  of  it ;  he  retained  their  interest  by  varying 
the  program  and  introducing  occasional  novelties;  he 
stood  in  front  of  his  classes  and  did  the  exercises  himself, 
and  did  them  with  the  same  snap  and  precision  that  he 
required  of  others;  before  beginning  any  movement,  all 
were  brought  sharply  to  attention,  and  woe  to  the  man 
who  turned  his  head  or  scratched  his  nose  after  that! 
We  "stood  for  it"  because  we  knew  it  was  good  for  us, 
and  what  was  good  for  us  is  good  for  Americans  generally, 
whether  grown-ups  or  children.  The  secret  of  success 
will  be  to  set  a  high  standard  of  discipline  at  the  outset 
and  adhere  to  it  rigidly. 

At  the  age  of  13  or  14  additions  could  be  made  to  the 
program,  such  as  cooking,  lire-lighting,  signalling,  first 
aid,  swimming,  nature  walks  and  the  other  out-door  ex- 
ercises in  which  our  Boy  Scouts  delight,  not  forgetting 
their  foremost  principle,  that  of  doing  for  others — the 
very  foundation  of  true  patriotism  and  good  citizenship. 

"Military  drill"  is  not  at  all  essential  and  may  be  dis- 

36 


pensed  with  altogether  so  far  as  the  school  curriculum  is 
concerned.  Indeed,  everything  thus  far  suggested  would 
benefit  any  child  and,  by  making  him  a  stronger  and 
better  citizen,  benefit  the  state,  totally  irrespective  of 
war  or  future  military  service. 

One  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  introducing  military 
drill  in  the  schools  is  the  difficulty  of  finding  teachers  who 
would  insist  on  its  being  done  properly,  and  nothing 
could  be  more  vicious  than  a  sloppy  execution  of  the 
manual  of  arms  or  marching  by  fours.  Moreover,  while 
knowledge  of  how  to  march  in  fours  has  some  military 
value,  it  can  be  acquired  by  any  fairly  intelligent  person 
in  a  short  time,  while  the  manual  of  arms  has  in  itself 
no  military  value  whatsoever.  The  chief  virtue  in  close 
order  drill  lies  in  the  discipline  inculcated,  and  if  the  drill 
be  performed  in  an  undisciplined  way  the  very  opposite 
result  is  arrived  at.  Moreover,  this  is  the  showiest 
feature  of  military  training  and  is  the  only  part  that 
carries  with  it  any  of  the  "glamour  of  war"  of  which 
we  read  so  much.  Now  no  one  has  ever  heard  of  a  fire- 
drill  arousing  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  children  to  set 
the  school  house  ablaze,  and  the  fear  of  arousing  war- 
hke  feelings  in  children  through  military  training  seems 
groundless.  Nevertheless,  any  possible  danger,  while 
the  boy  is  still  of  tender  years,  can  be  avoided  by  omitting 
the  only  feature  of  it  that  involves  "  pomp  and  panoply. " 
Certainly  a  showy  uniform  is  undesirable.  Half-way 
measures  should  be  avoided  as  breeding  ignorance  and 
incompetence. 

At  the  age  of  15  or  1 6,  body  and  mind  are  sufficiently 
advanced  to  make  some  introductory  military  training 
a  possibility.  It  is,  of  course,  desirable  that  the  soldier 
should  know  how  to  shoot,  and  the  earlier  he  learns  the 
better.  Usually  that  is  not  a  very  difficult  process,  but 
it  takes  time;  and  when  war  comes  there  are  many  other 
things  to  be  attended  to.  Besides,  shooting  trains  the 
eyes,  the  nerves  and  the  muscles  in  accuracy  and  co- 
ordination.    Sub-caliber  ranges  are  not  expensive  and 

37 


are  less  dangerous  than  practice  in  the  open  with  high- 
power  rifles.  They  should  constitute  the  first  step,  after 
the  usual  sighting  and  holding  exercises  which  require 
no  ranges  at  all — not  even  ammunition.  But  nothing 
can  take  the  place  of  work  out-doors,  with  actual  dis- 
tances to  be  covered  by  eye  and  bullet  and  with  the  dis- 
tracting effects  of  light,  shadow  and  wind.  This  would 
constitute  the  final  stage,  held  out  to  those  boys  who 
qualified  in  the  preliminaries.  For  that  purpose  we 
should  have  to  have  more  ranges,  but  they  are  badly 
needed,  anyhow,  for  our  militia.  Such  shooting  would 
not  consume  much  time  if  properly  systematized.  Two 
Saturday  holidays  on  the  ranges  each  year,  after  the  com- 
pletion of  his  preliminary  work,  ought  to  prove  sufficient 
to  qualify  the  average  boy  as  a  marksman.  It  should 
be  possible  for  all  who  show  ability  indoors  to  get  at 
least  two  chances  out  of  doors  between  the  first  of  May 
and  the  first  of  November — this,  too,  with  small  enough 
squads  to  entail  the  minimum  of  danger  and  provide  the 
maximum  of  instruction. 

In  connection  with  this  work,  "tactical  walks"  could 
be  taken  and  exercises  given  in  estimating  distances, 
taking  cover,  patrolling,  sketching  and  the  like.  Divide 
your  boys  into  two  parties  (of  course  unarmed)  and 
assign  them  to  a  certain  sector,  neither  group,  however, 
knowing  j  ust  where  the  other  may  be  encountered .  Here 
is  a  game  of  out-of-doors  hide  and  seek  which  is  healthful, 
full  of  fun  and  most  useful  from  the  military  standpoint. 
Any  healthy  boy  of  15  or  16  would  take  to  it  like  a  duck 
to  water.  Map  reading,  lectures,  simple  problems  and 
other  indoor  work  could  be  reserved  for  rainy  weather. 

At  about  this  same  age,  that  is,  from  15  up  to  18,  the 
boy  ought  to  be  strong  enough,  subject,  of  course,  to 
physical  examination,  to  take  part  in  voluntary  summer 
camps.  It  is  no  easy  matter  to  handle  a  group  of  men 
or  boys  for  four  or  five  weeks,  and  a  shorter  time  could 
not  be  really  effective.  Most  of  the  boys,  like  the  rest 
of  us  on  entering  the  field,  would  be  "soft,"  and  must 

38 


be  carefully  hardened  before  anything  strenuous  was 
attempted.  Otherwise  one  of  the  most  important  pur- 
poses of  the  camp  would  be  defeated  and  the  instruction 
largely  nullified,  because  the  recipients  would  be  too 
weary  to  take  it  all  in.  The  culmination  of  these  camps 
should  certainly  be  a  week  or  ten  days  of  hiking  or  man- 
euvers, following  the  plan  of  the  Students'  Camps  which 
for  the  past  few  years  have  been  conducted  so  successfully 
by  the  War  Department  for  college  and  school  boys  of 
1 8  years  and  upwards.  In  this  connection,  a  camp  for 
boys  of  15  to  17  (just  too  young  for  the  Students'  Camps) 
is  to  be  held  this  year  at  Fort  Terry  on  Plum  Island,  at 
the  entrance  to  Long  Island  Sound.  This  camp,  which 
is  an  experiment  largely  the  idea  of  Dr.  Drury,  head- 
master of  St.  Paul's  School,  New  Hampshire,  will  be 
observed  with  great  interest. 

Boys  who  attend  such  summer  camps  should  be  sup- 
plied with  a  simple  field  uniform  and  the  necessary  equip- 
ment. Indeed,  those  in  the  earlier  stages  of  development 
might  perhaps  be  given  part  of  an  inconspicuous  outfit 
as  in  Australia — for  example,  hats  and  leggings  to  those 
old  enough  to  go  on  the  afternoon  or  Saturday  walks, 
with  canvas  trousers  and  olive-drab  shirts  later  on.  Ex- 
cept in  connection  with  the  camps,  no  arms  need  be 
furnished;  none  of  the  exercises  outlined,  save  the  rifle 
shooting,  call  for  the  handling  of  a  gun,  although  the 
older  boys  who  have  shown  themselves  careful  might 
properly  be  supplied  with  light  rifles. 

At  the  age  of  18  or  19  or  20  the  serious  work  of  in- 
struction should  begin,  and  should  be  universal  for  those 
physically  capable  of  performing  it,  including  those  who 
have  left  school.  At  that  time  of  life,  any  normal  young 
man  is  amply  strong  enough  to  do  the  work  which  proved 
so  useful  and  at  the  same  time  so  beneficial  at  the  Student 
and  Business  Men's  Camps.  Two  months  of  intensive 
training,  even  if  not  repeated,  will  go  far  towards  im- 
parting the  fundamental  duties  of  a  soldier.  This  is 
substantially  the  length  of  the  Swiss  first-year  tour  of 

39 


duty.  A  month  or  five  weeks  might  suffice,  but  a  longer 
period  is  preferable;  there  is  no  question  that  the  second 
month  would  be  worth  many  times  the  first.  Those  of 
us  who  completed  our  Plattsburg  duties  can  testify 
that  the  fourth  week,  devoted  to  maneuvers,  was  many 
times  more  valuable  than  all  the  preceding  days  taken 
together,  although  we  could  not  have  secured  satisfactory 
results  that  fourth  week  without  the  other  three  ahead 
of  it;  indeed  those  who  left  before  the  "hike"  might  al- 
most better  have  stayed  away  altogether,  and  an  extra 
month  there  would  have  done  wonders  for  us.  Let 
this  training,  therefore,  continue  two  months  if  possible 
and  compensate  by  taking  less  time  when  the  man  is 
older  and  his  time  more  valuable.  The  loss  of  sixty 
days  at  this  stage  will  not  wreck  any  career,  and  em- 
ployers would  much  prefer  one  longer  period  to  numerous 
short  ones.  While  Australia  calls  for  a  shorter  first 
period ,  it  is  supplemented  by  a  great  deal  of  special  work 
which  may  be  impossible  for  us. 

If  the  young  man  is  physically  fit  to  start  with  (and  he 
should  not  be  accepted  at  camp  unless  he  is)  this  ex- 
perience will  do  him  an  immense  amount  of  good  physi- 
cally and  benefit  him  morally  and  intellectually  as  well. 
Here  again  Plattsburg  can  be  cited,  for  the  good  done 
its  participants  of  all  ages.  A  youth  of  i8  to  20  possesses 
the  greatest  elasticity  of  body  and  mind  and  the  greatest 
capacity  for  learning.  At  that  age,  therefore,  the  greatest 
results  can  be  accomplished  in  the  shortest  time.  If  his 
training  is  handled  with  common  sense,  he  will  go  back 
to  his  family  and  to  his  work  more  robust,  more  alert, 
quicker  in  thought  and  in  action,  better  equipped  gener- 
ally for  the  battle  of  life,  a  finer,  stronger  citizen.  And, 
not  the  least  important,  he  will  be  in  a  position  to  serve 
efficiently  as  a  soldier  if  his  country  ever  needs  him.  What 
logic  or  patriotism  is  there  in  giving  to  one's  country 
any  service  which  is  not  the  best  of  which  one  is  capable? 
If  the  worst  befalls  and  war  comes,  every  man  owes  the 
duty  of  service;  voluntary  enlistment — i.  e.,  fighting  for 
40 


other  men  who  stay  safely  at  home — is  as  ridiculous  in 
principle  as  voluntary  payment  of  taxes  would  be.  More- 
over, if  the  young  man  is  to  fight,  let  him  know  how  to 
fight  with  the  least  danger  to  himself.  It  is  axiomatic 
that  the  more  ignorant  and  the  less  disciplined  the  soldier, 
the  greater  his  danger  and  the  poorer  the  chance  of  his 
being  preserved  for  himself,  his  family  and  his  country. 

Boys  physically  backward  should  be  given  training 
which  would  fit  them  for  usefulness  in  the  all-important 
departments  of  supply,  transportation  and  the  like.  All 
should  be  catalogued  and  assigned  their  definite  duties 
in  the  event  of  trouble. 

What,  if  anything,  is  to  be  done  in  subsequent  years 
is  a  supplemental  consideration.  The  Swiss  call  their 
young  men  to  the  colors  for  a  few  days  every  year  after 
their  first  year  until  they  reach  the  age  of  32,  after  which 
they  cease  to  be  members  of  the  Elite  (or  Auszug)  and 
enter  the  First  Reserve  (or  Landwehr) .  A  similar  system 
obtains  in  AustraHa.  Such  a  continuation  training  is 
chiefly  a  question  of  military  policy,  but  with  our  great 
population  it  might  be  omitted  save  for  those  ambitious 
to  become  non-commissioned  or  commissioned  officers. 
Even  if  we  made  supplemental  training  entirely  volun- 
tary and  only  10  per  cent,  responded,  we  should  be  very 
comfortably  oft"  in  a  few  years  by  reason  of  the  extent 
of  our  population. 

There  are  many  important  features  of  the  proposed 
system  which  deserve  extended  consideration.  One  is 
its  tendency  to  do  away  with  state  lines  in  the  later  stages 
of  the  work.  Another  advantage  is  the  complete  democ- 
racy entailed.  Young  men  of  every  walk  of  life  would 
be  thrown  together  on  an  absolute  equality — not  a  sup- 
posititious but  an  actual  equality  of  work  and  hardship 
in  the  field,  with  all  bent  on  the  same  purpose,  all  actuated 
by  one  high  motive.  The  leaders  would  be  those  who 
proved  their  ability  to  lead,  irrespective  of  wealth  or 
station.  If  the  training  were  not  universal,  it  would 
not  be  democratic;  if  it  did  not  involve  giving  as  well 
as  getting,  it  would  not  be  democratic. 

41 


An  all-important  question  is  that  of  teachers,  whether 
for  children  or  for  the  young  men.  In  the  case  of  the 
latter,  regular  Army  officers  would  at  first  prove  the  best 
instructors,  but  little  by  little  their  pupils  would  grow 
up  to  carry  on  their  work.  Better  have  few  and  have  them 
good  than  fall  back  on  mediocrity.  The  conduct  of 
purely  physical  exercises  in  the  schools  is  difficult  enough, 
but  is  simple  in  comparison  with  any  supplemental  train- 
ing. Indeed,  in  almost  every  detail  of  the  proposed  sys- 
tem, we  shall  have  to  feel  our  way  to  a  great  extent. 
Fortunately,  we  have  the  experience  of  Switzerland  and 
Australia  to  guide  us.  Both  arrived  at  their  present  state 
of  excellence  only  after  years  of  work  and  experiment 
and  study.  We  cannot  hope  to  achieve  our  goal  in  one 
year,  or  even  in  ten.     But  we  can  make  a  beginning. 

Just  what  form  that  beginning  shall  take  is  our  present 
problem.  We  can  safely  start  with  the  proposition  that 
five  to  ten  weeks  of  intensive  training  for  every  young 
man  in  (let  us  say)  his  nineteenth  summer  is  the  essential 
feature  of  the  program.  That  should  stand  in  any  event. 
And,  as  leading  up  to  it,  a  comprehensive  scheme  of 
physical  training  in  the  primary  schools,  preferably  sup- 
plemented by  exercises  calculated  to  create  quickness 
of  thought,  promptness  of  decision,  instant  obedience 
to  those  in  command,  accuracy,  punctuality,  teamwork, 
co-ordination,  ability  to  care  for  oneself  on  and  off  the 
field,  cleanness  of  living,  devotion  to  an  ideal. 

Then,  if  war  does  not  come,  we  shall  have  our  reward 
in  a  stronger,  healthier,  more  loyal  type  of  American 
citizen;  and  if  the  worst  befalls  we  shall  find  that  we 
have  reared  a  true  citizen  soldiery,  ready  to  take  up  arms 
and  with  a  knowledge  of  how  to  use  them.  This  very 
fact  will  militate  against  war.  A  soldier  wedded  to  his 
home  is  soberer,  more  thoughtful  of  others,  less  likely  to 
be  pushed  or  cajoled  into  a  needless  conflict,  the  horrors 
of  which  are  only  too  well  known  to  him.  And  so,  in 
the  words  of  Washington,  by  preparing  for  war  we  shall 
have  created  the  most  effectual  means  of  ^preserving 
peace. 

42 


■"*V^BP^'  - 


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